• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

  • About
  • Liz’s Books
  • Speaking
  • Disclosure
  • Contact

Credit denial: a corporate trick or cause for alarm?

September 16, 2013 By Liz Weston

Dear Liz: A few years ago when buying my son his college laptop computer, I applied for the store card at a big, well-known electronics store (at the encouragement of the sales associate). I was denied. I have never been denied a credit card before. I have eight cards that are always paid off monthly, own my own home and have a satisfactory retirement income and a top credit score. By receiving the card, I would have had a substantial savings on the computer. The denial has bothered me ever since. Was this a ploy on the company’s part to deny me the savings?

Answer: That kind of bait-and-switch happens sometimes, but there may be other reasons you were denied.

When you were turned down, the company should have provided you with the name, address and phone number of the credit agency it used to evaluate you. You should have immediately requested your report from the agency to see if the information was accurate. Someone may have stolen your identity, and credit denials are often the first sign many victims have that there’s a problem.

A collections account also could have torpedoed your scores. Many people discover that a medical bill, library fine or parking ticket went unpaid only when they find the resulting collections on their credit reports.

Related Posts

  • Q&A: When a lower credit score might not be cause for alarm

    Dear Liz: I sold my house, paid off my mortgage and then got a new…

  • Q&A: To build credit, try this set-it-and-forget-it trick

    Dear Liz: I have little credit history and my Experian credit score is about 620.…

  • Find a better credit card

    Dear Liz: One of my credit cards offers mediocre rewards — mainly an online store…

  • Q&A: Credit reports vs. credit scores

    Dear Liz: I recently downloaded both my wife’s and my own credit reports. I noticed…

Filed Under: Credit & Debt, Credit Scoring, Q&A Tagged With: collections, Credit Bureaus, Credit Reports, Credit Scores, credit scoring, FICO, FICO scores, Identity Theft

Primary Sidebar

Search

Copyright © 2025 · Ask Liz Weston 2.0 On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in